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The Maple Leafs bowed 4-2 to the Nashville Predators Thursday night and were taught a lesson in the process. The Predators work as hard as any team out there, and probably harder than most. They need to do that to survive in the tough Western Conference with a roster that doesn’t boast any superstars up front. They are well managed, well coached, and they stick to a game plan that is crafted for the players on hand.

Nashville has an organizational template: It drafts a certain way and the team signs a certain way and if a player doesn’t fit the template, he’s quickly discarded in favour a player who does.

That’s all fine for Predators fans, but in Leafsnation, the talk was about how the Leafs ran out of gas after one period against the Predators and their dogged work ethic. That brings up the Penthouse-Doghouse feature.

Here’s how we worked it for this game:

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Penthouse

Morgan Rielly

On a night when just about every Leaf faded, Rielly had some things going on with his game that stood out.

Lets face it, this wasn’t a night were any Leaf fully deserved anything near the Penthouse, but Rielly skated well and was dangerous on several rushes. He continues to gain confidence in his game and his abilities to do things with the puck at the NHL level. He’s far from a polished product, he needs plenty of work on his game down low in the Leafs end and he could stand to be more physical too. But Rielly’s game is largely about moving the puck and creating offence. He did that Thursday night and on a night when the Leafs got schooled by the Predators, Rielly had some good things to his game — so he gets a night in the Penthouse.

Doghouse

Leafs first line

Leafs coach Randy Carlyle had Nazem Kadri on the top line with James Van Riemsdyk and Phil Kessel, but broke that up as the Leafs game disintegrated from the second period on. Kadri was banished to a line with Colton Orr and Mayson Raymond to start the third period. Immediately, everyone thought Kadri was being punished, but that was not entirely the case. Kadri did have two turnovers and took a penalty early in the game. But Carlyle had nothing going on with his team entering the third and he just tossed out an unusual combo to see if there was a spark there.

Ultimately, Van Riemsdyk was the only top liner who did anything really positive, Kadri had a long distance goal, but his overall game was far from impressive. Kessel simply looked out of energy. And Carlyle, when asked about Kessel and whether his top sniper is healthy, said, “I think all our guys are carrying bumps and bruises, all have ailments, and that’s why you have maintenance days and therapists.” Kessel, though, has played 16 minutes the past four games, a contrast to the rest of the season where he was at around 20. Carlyle recognized that his team faded, and that the Predators ultimately wore them down. The coach will monitor energy levels a bit more closely now and possibly pull back workloads in morning skates and practices, and maybe grant a few more maintenance days to his troops.

That may have been a factor in the top line’s performance Thursday, as well as the entire team.

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